Like this blogger, I've seen this recipe from Anna Olson all over pintrest and other blogs, but I've not made them yet. I've read at least 5 blogs where the person who did try the recipe says they are the best ever.

My favorite website by far for a long time is The Improvised Life. It is nothing short of spectacular for all kinds of reasons. Today, they printed a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that looks and sounds ... beyond exceptional. I wanted to share it here:

I made the cookies with half the recommended baking soda and the extra half-cup of flour. I also added some Himalayan pink salt that I had ground to mostly a fine grind. Not all of the crystals were ground, however, and the cookies have an occasional large salt crystal that gives them a most interesting taste. I think I will use more unground crystals and less finely ground salt next time.

I made the cookies with half the recommended baking soda and the extra half-cup of flour. I also added some Himalayan pink salt that I had ground to mostly a fine grind. Not all of the crystals were ground, however, and the cookies have an occasional large salt crystal that gives them a most interesting taste. I think I will use more unground crystals and less finely ground salt next time.

I love a little bite of salt occassionally with a cookie. Can't wait to try your recipe.

Butter or margarine or butter flavor shortening is changed to half butter or margarine and half butter flavored vegetable shortening - it changes the melting point and you get cookies that are neither too thick & cakey nor too thin

Make more cookie dough with the same amount of chips - 1.5x cookie dough recipe and same amount of chips or even 2x cookie dough to same amount of chips - more cookie dough means that the chips don't overwhelm the cookie dough's flavor (which the above tweaks really do taste GOOD but not quite "standard" - if I take them, everyone knows that this is not a store bought cookie).

These were magnificent: slightly crisp around the edges, chewy in the center, and still soft the next day. I used AP flour instead of bread flour, and semi sweet chips instead of the milk and dark chocolate.

It's funny because that's what my DD did for her third grade science project - she had me make two batches of cookies, one with the dough refrigerated beforehand overnight and the other without refrigerating. She found (lots) of volunteers to do taste tests, and people preferred the batch from the refrigerated dough 3 to 1. She tied it into science by explaining that the chemistry of the dough changes when refrigerated.

Interesting there is an article that pans her hypothesis out - I'll have to show this to her!

I have my own secret to making them and that is to use the Nestle Toll House recipe but replace all of the butter with butter-flavored Crisco. Cookies stay chewy longer and have a better consistency.